Why Cheap Car Detailing Can Cost You More

A cheap detail and a proper one look identical for about a fortnight. The difference shows up afterwards, and by then the money is spent.

This is not an argument that cheap always means bad. It is an explanation of exactly what gets removed to hit a low price, so you can read a quote properly.

The Stages That Get Cut Are The Invisible Ones

Nobody can tell by looking whether a car was decontaminated. Nobody can tell whether the wash used clean media and a proper pre-rinse. Both take time, both cost money, and neither is visible at handover.

So they are the first to go. The car still looks clean when it leaves, because it is clean. It just has bonded contamination still on the paint and, quite often, fresh wash marring added to it.

Fillers Are Not Correction

A glaze fills swirls with oils. Held up to the light the paint looks corrected, and for a couple of weeks it genuinely does look excellent.

Then the fillers wash out and the swirls are exactly where they were. You paid for correction and got a temporary cosmetic.

Real correction removes a controlled amount of clear coat so the defect no longer physically exists. That is why it is priced per vehicle, why it takes machine time, and why anyone quoting it as a fixed cheap number has not seen your paint.

Heavy Dressing Is A Short Term Trick

Trim and tyres slathered in a glossy dressing look spectacular in the driveway and then attract dust for a month, sling onto the paint in the rain, and leave the trim looking worse than before it was touched.

The Wash Is Where The Damage Happens

Almost all paint damage on an ordinary car comes from washing, not from driving. Grit dragged across the clear coat by a dirty mitt, an automatic brush, or the wrong drying towel puts in the fine circular scratches that make a car look dull.

A cheap detail that washes quickly with reused media does not just fail to fix that. It adds to it.

How To Read A Quote In Thirty Seconds

• Ask whether decontamination is included, and what it involves
• Ask what the protection is and how long it is expected to last
• Ask whether the paint will be assessed before anything is polished
• Ask what happens if the car needs more work than the package covers
• Ask how long the car will take

A three hour full detail on a neglected car is not a bargain, it is a wash with a better name.

Titan's complete detail starts from $349, down from $549, and every stage is listed on the service page so you can compare it against anything else you are quoted.